The sun shone down on the two beings, the winds carried the scent of the forest below them, they clashed several times in the span of mere moments. The arrancar made theories on how it was possible for the metal man to rival his strength, however they were tossed aside.
The armored man's spear went for his chest. He reacted with impressive speed and skill.
Aaroniero blocked it. His trident shaft stopped the energy spear tip. The arrancar faltered for an instant, he tried to slide a glowing tip down to create an opening.
Sadly all he received for his efforts were his wrists nearly being fractured.
Rook saw the opportunity, seized it and closed the distance. His instincts guided his movements, as he turned his body, a mental command to his faithful and he was in front of the masked being.
The ninth Espada forced spiritual energy to flood into his bruised wrists, more flooded his legs and arms. He thrusted with his weapon forward to forward, it stopped. His foe grabbed the shaft with his right hand.
With his however he brought down an orange dagger which would have bisected anyone else.
The two gained distance, they floated in the sky and analyzed each other.
'This man is really skilled, if our Hierro was any weaker we would have cleaved into two, or would we technically still be whole but apart. My clothing was torn but the exposed area is minimal. I have had an hour before any changes occur. No matter he got us here via some wind manipulation ability there was no spiritual energy, ha, he'll make a good snack.' Aaroniero thought as he saw Rook look down at his dagger.
'This person did not have the opportunity to attack while I do not have my eyes on him. Perhaps he enjoys fighting people on equal ground. Anyway it really does not matter, he is obviously a general of the man who has Ben taking him and getting the answers we need is the top priority.'
The Revonnan straightened his arm, his dagger became a sword that was cloaked in a vortex of gale force winds.
The arrancar's weapon summoned a torrent of water to protect itself.
"Water and wind. Hmm, if Ben was here he would say, "you and I are a match." The alien in the metal suit attempted to sound witty, however all he received in return was the sound barrier being shattered.
The opponent before him, vanished and appeared before him. Spear prepared to slash at his neck. Honed instincts activated and he slashed away the attack. Water and wind mixed together in a violent explosion, wind blades and water spheres scarred the forest beneath them.
In the sight of the arrancar the metal man vanished.
"Behind you." He barely dodged a slash aimed at his spine, he used Sonido to evade. The attack Rook sent out caused a large wind projectile to strike the ground.
"What was that? Tell me stranger what is this power you wield, it is different from what red haired woman uses." The dual voice of the Espada reached the alien's ears; he saw no issue in informing his enemy of the basics.
"Chi, that is the name of the power I wield. My people are quite versed in how to use it." Rook smirked underneath his helmet, he knew that was not a real answer however the man or being before him was attempting to end his existence so in his eyes it was one he better than he deserved.
"Comedian it seems. No matter, I will know once I devour you." After saying those words the arrancar spun his weapon above him, water gathered in great tendrils, enough to drown out multi-story buildings.
"I hope for your sake metal man you don't rust." The tendrils flew at Rook with a terrible speed for their size. If anyone was hit the force would crush their bones into smithereens.
...Luckily for the alien he was outfitted with some of the latest and greatest PLUMBER technology, alongside years of experience fighting the ultimate master of unpredictability.
Ben Tennyson.
The thrusters on his feet roared to life as he dodged the tendrils, up, down, left or right he flew. Rook soon looped around the arrancar, anytime a tendril came close to him it would be destroyed by a wind blade.
'Careless!' The Espada thought as he fired a dark purple Cero.
It struck Rook's hand, he sword was launched away, as he felt the nano technology of the affected area be blown away along with it.
"Die!" The masked Espada unleashed a torrent of water great enough to pulverize mountains at the defenseless man.
To the arrancar he saw his foe visibly reappear stunned and was face to face with his unstoppable onslaught.
"Ahh! What the-?!" A shrill scream came from the masked trident wielder and forced him to stop the attack as he felt an odd sting, then his muscle and shoulder bone dislocated. Aaroniero saw a blade made entirely out of condensed wind pierce his left shoulder and the blood pooled at the core of the blade.
"Oh, it seems like I was on target." The triumph in his foes voice made the arrancar see red and loose composure.
"Explain how?! How could you do this? I thought your power was limited to your weapon!"
"If you are that interested let us stop here and maybe if you agree to help us search for Ben then you can know." Rook simply hovered in the sky as he gazed down on his enemy.
"Tennyson this, Tennyson that! How dare all of you cast me aside for that human!" The Espada could not care anymore, ever since that human strolled into Las Noches he has been the talk of the town.
He was relegated to being known as a prototype, so today he casted aside everything, in the heart of enemy territory he would demonstrate to everyone.
"Witness the power of a demi-god of all Holllows!" A column of dark purple colored spiritual energy rose into the sky, as if the world itself was fearful of the nature of the Espada's might.
Dark clouds gathered above, the land beneath the combatants lost its vibrance as if the act of the Espada's transformation violated the laws of the world, and forced it to mourn.
From the winds and light the arrancar's new form was laid bare; it was an amorphous blob, it was a mass of eyes and limbs that did not belong together, some looked human, some were animal, some were otherworldly. The harrowing part was not the appearance of the blob itself, it was the terrible laugh it emitted.
It was a laugh of madness; it seemed as though the blob mocked every other being, not like it.
"Hahaha, it's to die metal man! And I'll make sure the last thing you see is the face of your precious friend!" The blob contorted with the sound of snapping bones and ripping flesh assaulted the ears of the alien, he reflexively covered them despite the helmet.
The blob grew mangled legs of torn dark flesh, an emaciated rib cage, spindly arms that did not remotely match his already twisted forms proportions, and a curtain of blood stained brown hair grew from the deathly pale body's head. Remnant flesh became the beings clothing, and lastly he had one emerald eye and an inverted one of dark purple and black.
"So metal man don't I look like your hero!" His scream carried tremendous power, a sonic wave was unleashed that was fused with the monster's potent spiritual energy, the waves became visible as a result and forced the seasoned PLUMBER to block.
He was pushed back and needed time upright himself.
"Don't leave too soon!" His monstrous arms became horrid definitions of muscle as they swelled to ungodly proportions.
Rook felt the air in his body leave him, his armor came apart even more.
"Here's another one just for you!" A great fireball formed in between his hands as Rook was sent to the ground like a comet.
He crashed, he felt the pain from the collision despite the protection of his armor, he closed his eyes as his suit alerted him to an energy spike.
He lumbered to his feet as he expected to feel himself receive another blow instead he heard a soft voice scream out.
"Santen Kisshun!"
Rook looked on with his mouth agape as a human girl who wore an autumn tracksuit and jacket combo stood before him behind an orange triangular shield. She had the same hair color as Gwen; she was slightly shorter and had rounder eyes. What shocked him was not any of that, it was the shield that repelled the fireball back at his opponent.
"Are you okay?" She asked him with concern laced in her soft voice.
"Yes, miss..."
"Inoue, Orihime Inoue ah someone named Mister Paradox sent me here." She said as her eyes scanned his body an obvious desire to aid him was written on her face.
"Thank you for your help, I was careless. But now I am going to beat him." Conviction filled his words which stirred up the young girl's own feelings.
"Let me help, my shield can be used to reflect his attacks, mister..."
"Rook. And of course you can." The alien said as in his hand ferocious winds gathered to form a javelin of compressed air.
"Wow! Wait, mister Rook, I sort of have a problem." Orihime got his attention then shyly looked away.
"Sure, be quick however." Rook's nerves were on edge as he scanned his environment.
"I can't fly and use my shield at the same time." She rubbed the back of her head as she blushed and looked like a strawberry.
"Seriously?!" Rook questioned as they soon felt the gravity change and weigh them down.
"Worry about yourself!" From their side like an infernal demon the Espada flew towards them ablaze.
Orihime got in front of the armored alien and blocked his strike which sent him sprawling.
Rook set his thrusters to max, and reappeared the rag dolled abomination. His javelin struck and his foe's arm was severed.
"You bastard, that was a bad move!" The burning fiend's remaining left hand froze over and tried to slash at the torso of the alien in the suit, only for Orihime's shield to fly over and defend him.
The range inside him grew and his eyes soon began to leak blood down his deathly pain cheeks.
He seemed to have lost it as no insults were thrown, only a mad screen that rocked the world. He moved to attack the teenage girl only to be impeded by a wall of swirling wind.
"Tsubaki!" He heard before he had his remaining arm be severed from his body.
Orihime felt sick to her core, the sight of her opponent's arm being severed and the putrid blood spill to the ground.
"Oi, you don't have time to sit around being a sick princess, we have to move." Tsubaki, one of her six spirits, dragged her out of her stupor; she summoned the shield and gained distance.
"You...you...you...you...you!" The monster seemed lost in his madness as his spiritual energy skyrocketed again into the sky, darker clouds gathered as the dark aura radiated alongside the beast's spiritual pressure.
...
Concealed in an alternate space away from everything yet right next to it as well, a beautiful woman with fox ears and a tail saw everything unfold from her seat on a pillow larger than her own body.
A purple light came from behind her, which caused her tail to wag and ears to perk up.
"Oh, master, you finally came back. How could you leave a poor woman like me here all alone?" The woman put on an over dramatic display to demonstrate her feelings.
"Save it Skaya, how do things with Aizen's dogs?" Eon took a seat next to the woman as they both gazed at the projection of the battles before them.
"Well I was fine, thank you very much. Ugh, despite your rudeness one of them is using the new powers that Aizen incorporated into them. Compared to the power he was meant to wield in the proper timeline he really has gotten stronger." The woman rested her head on Eon's shoulder who did not pay any attention to the act.
"That's good news, the more things divert from the original timeline the easier it will be to get what we need." Eon spoke as his and the fox woman's attention were glued to the various battles that occurred before them.